Is this thing on??

Is this thing on??

**edit**
Oh! Ha! It worked! I've got mobile blogging set up now! Yay!
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two words: flying trapeze

I was driving by Young Circle not too long ago, and I noticed there was a trapeze rig up on the south side, by the bandshell. And there was a sign saying they were offering trapeze lessons!

I have had a thing for the trapeze since I was a little kid and actually still watched circuses. It just always looked like the most fun thing in the world. I was always really into swings. But I always figured I could never do trapeze because I had no upper body strength at all, nor was I ever particularly coordinated or athletic. I'm marginally better in all those areas now, tho'. And now I've got my chance to try the trapeze! Woohoo!

So, these are the people running the thing: The Flying Gaonas. They're based in Chicago, but they've got family in Fort Lauderdale, so they're spending the winter here, according to this Sun-Sentinel article. That article (which is from January - man, I'm out of touch sometimes) also says they'll only be in town through the end of April, but the Hollywood tourism site says "Through May 2008," and the Gaonas' own site says they won't be back in Chicago until June. So I've still got time!

The only stumbling blocks I see are my injured knees (how much would it suck to further injure them doing extracurricular non-derby activity?), and the fact that you can't wear glasses while doing it. I want to get a pair of sports goggles for derby, since I hate contacts, but heck only knows when I'll get around to doing that (or when I'll be able to afford it). So maybe I won't be able to swing this year, after all - but the newspaper article and their website do make it sound like this wintering-in-Florida thing is going to become an annual occurrence for the Flying Gaonas. I'll have to call and ask when I get back to FL. Trapeze in 2009!!! :D

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weekend plans

Tomorrow is Record Store Day, but instead of spending the whole day browsing at Radio-Active or Sweat or even Uncle Sam's, we're going to be either attending, or hanging out with Johnny's parents who will be in town attending, the 25th Annual Sunrise Community Hot Air Balloon Race in Kendall. That seems like a very weird (tho' interesting) event. Anyway, I'm betting we'll be able to spend at least a little time at Sweat on Saturday, because not only is it Record Store Day, but Sweat is also celebrating its third anniversary! They're throwing a big party and everything! And besides, we have to pass Sweat to get to Kendall...

On Sunday...


...I'm caravaning to Fort Myers with some BCDG peeps to watch the Fort Myers Derby Girls* take on the Bradentucky Bombers** at Generations Skating Center, 2095 Andrea Lane, Fort Myers, FL 33912.

*(Don't click that link - they don't seem to have a website besides their myspace, but that page is so bloated it will take forever to load if it doesn't crash your browser first.)
**(Their website does not seem to have been updated since February.)

This will be the first regional roller derby action I've gotten to see besides the MRRG vs. IRDG bouts at the Smackdown! I'm way excited! We're also planning to play our very first away bout against Fort Myers in August (see our schedule), so it will be useful to check out the competition. Not that I'll be skating in that bout or anything, but still.

BTW, I'm not going to be in town for this, but our next bout is going to be an intraleague bout on May 18:


Click the pic for tix!!! We're going with a "derby prom" theme, and it promises to be such a hoot. I wish I could be here for it.

Well, I still feel bad that I'm going to miss Asha Bhosle at the Broward Center tonight, especially after she was on The World yesterday, and there was this write-up in the New Times this week. (Speaking of the New Times, they've got an article on us this week, too! Woohoo!) I'm sure I'll later regret missing this show, but man, I need to spend a night at home sometimes, y'know? Literally, I've been out every night this week so far: Sunday & Monday were practices (I can't skate, but I can watch), Tuesday was BCDG Scrabble night (I was the champion, thanks to my lucky Scrabble shirt), Wednesday was practice, and last night was the Creative Committee meeting. Derby truly has taken over my life. :)

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ZOMGWTFBBQ!

The KIDS IN THE HALL are TOURING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG!!!! They're going to be in Orlando the day after we get back from Europe, and in Clearwater the day after that, and that is as close as they're coming to here.

ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG!!!!!!!! I don't know what I am going to do, I can hardly contain myself!!!!! ZOMG!!!

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sure as you can't stop a train

This whole area is criss-crossed with railroad tracks. We live half a block from one busy freight-rail line (trains come through about every two hours, 24 hours a day). I see people walking along the tracks or stopping their cars on the tracks all the damn time. According to this press release from last year, Florida is third in the nation in fatalities from people trespassing on the tracks. I'm not sure where that data comes from or how recent it is, but this site, with national data from 2004, ranks us as #4. Either way, it's clearly a problem here. (Edit: found some more recent stats - we're 5th in pedestrian trespass fatalities, 3rd in pedestrian trespass injuries as of 2006. Ooh, recent searchable data here, tho' not in a format that makes it easy to compare state-to-state.)

Driving home last night, I passed a sign declaring next week Train Safety Awareness Week.

Well, happy Train Safety Awareness Week, y'all. Ugh.

Anyway, it's great that there are organizations out there like Florida's Operation Lifesaver, but it's a shame their site is so badly coded and hasn't been updated since last year. I'd go out and volunteer with them next week, but I honestly don't think it'll make much difference. :/

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congrats, Carolinian!!!

Carolinian & Inscrutable's baby, Mr. Wiggles, was born yesterday!!! Yayness!! Such a cute wee one.

Congrats, you two! Kiss your sleep schedules goodbye! :)

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Where's George update

Here's a few interesting Where's George hits I've gotten recently:

• Direct hit from Langerado on a Nana bill.


• A couple hits recently on bills with long user notes from me - long enough that I can't edit them to note where/when I spent the bill. So I'll say it here: I left this bill (with the long note about Greg's band Opposite Day) as part of the tip at Nellie's in Las Cruces, NM on 10/9/07, and I left this bill (with the long note about getting it either in the Orlando airport, or at BankAtlantic Center during a Panthers game) as part of the tip at The Pizza Loft in Davie on 3/13.


• One of the bills I gave to Bill Plympton at FLIFF last year got a hit! Woohoo!


• I love that I got this bill from one local skating rink and spent it two days later at another one. :)


• I'd really like to know how this bill, which I gave to T<-> S<-> during our 3/15 scrimmage with the ALWSRN and which she presumably put into the vending machine at < - >, made it to Massachusetts in 9 days. Wow.


• I spent this one at the 6/21/07 Squirrel Nut Zippers show at Toad's Place, Richmond - the grand opening show for that venue. I didn't know it was going to be the venue's grand opening - I discovered that when I showed up and picked up my ticket from Will Call. They had a free buffet of finger food, which was pretty cool, but they didn't have their liquor license yet. The bartenders seemed a little bit pissed off that they weren't going to be making nearly as much as they could have in tips that night. The Zippers were good, but the big discovery of the show, for me, was opening band The Old Ceremony. They opened the show with the song "Poison Pen" (which is a critique of America's obsession with Manifest Destiny in 4-minute pop song format, complete with a vibes solo!), and I was pretty much sold from there on out. I got their second album, Our One Mistake, at the merch table, and it's fantastic. Still need to get their first album. Wow - see the stories one little WG hit can dig up? I love this hobby. Also of note: this hit's from a Georger with a profile, and her profile is classic:

  I count money in a retail establishment, and that is how I find these bills. It is like a game for me now!! Obviously I have no life.

  LOL!


• This hit's not all that exciting - I'm just trying to figure out why the user favorited it. They make mention of my multi-colored stamp - that's qoo. Also, I've spent a lot of bills at our local Paciugo recently, so I hope this bodes well for me getting hits on them. Oh, dang, now I want gelato. Mmmmm, gelato.

Well, the only other WG news I have to report is that I finally re-upped my FOG (which I meant to do back on my Georgiversary, but kept forgetting to do), and I learned that, back in January, the price went up to $7 a month! Ouch. That's $84 a year, up from $72. I didn't consider not paying it, but I do wonder how long it'll be before FOG does get more expensive than I can afford. That will be a sad, sad day. But seeing as how FOG stayed at $6/a month for, oh, 7 years or so, I don't anticipate it coming anytime soon.

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shows, events, things I want to see...

One of the mixed blessings of living in a major metropolitan area is that there's no shortage of things to see and do. Just this past Saturday, for instance, I had no fewer than four events competing for my time - that's madness! Here are a few things I really hope I can find the time and $$ to see before they go away:

• Friday, April 18: Asha Bhosle at the Broward Center. This is the kind of show I almost can't believe is happening here. I have had Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" in my head ever since they started plugging the show on the radio. I want to go see her, but alas, I don't think I want to enough to pay $35 (plus whatever inconvenience fees they decide to tack on). :/ Still, it's pretty exciting to me that she's going to be here at all.


• Bodies: The Exhibition has been extended through Memorial Day, thank goodness. I missed it in Miami last year right after I moved here, and I was afraid I was going to miss it again, since I was in Virginia from December to February. But I've still got a month or so to catch it, now - yayness! I won't procrastinate on this, since I don't really have much else going on during my days right now. Tix here.


• Also on through the end of May: Botero, Chihuly and Lichtenstein at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. I've still never been to the Garden, since I missed the Mango Festival last year (and I'm rather bummed that I'm going to miss it again this year, since we'll be in Portland for AALL then). This show seems like the perfect excuse to get down there and check it out. Damn shame it's so expensive, tho' - $20 for daytime admission, $30 for Thursday late-nites. It sucks to be broke. :(


• Last, but not least, this is BIG news - big enough to cheer me up when Johnny sent me a text message about it right after I hurt my knees on Sunday and I was all upset about not being able to skate for a while. But it's not happening here. It's happening in New York and Virginia (so far - I don't know if any more dates will be forthcoming). 2 Skinnee J's are reuniting to play some shows this August. ZOMGWTFBBQ!!! They're playing on 8/8/08 at The NorVa, and Johnny & I will so be there. They're also playing on the 9th and 10th at Irving Plaza in NYC (they had to add the show on the 10th because the show on the 9th sold out so fast) - we may or may not try to catch them on the 10th, too. The trailer for the show promises the return of Stevie Spice (tho' alas, no Mikey B on the drums - but hey, Andy Action is back!)! I am simultaneously very excited to see the guys again, yet also afraid that there is just no way they could possibly be as good as they were at their peak, and thus the show(s) will be somewhat disappointing. Still - there's no way I'm gonna miss it! Tix via TicketBastard here.

Wow - many exciting things afoot. My Google calendar overfloweth. :)

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new knees, please

Ha! Ha! I'm so silly - I fell twice at practice tonight and hurt both my knees! But I'm sure it's not some kind of big injury that'll plague me for the rest of my life! And even if it is, derby is so totally worth it! Derby is just like sparkly, rainbow-colored kittens!!!

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the Arrogant Worms at Blake Library in Stuart

I finally, after about eight years of being a fan, got to see the Arrogant Worms tonight.

Of course, I had to drive an hour and a half to a public library in Stuart to do it, and I had been feeling crappy all afternoon, so I wasn't sure it would be worth the hassle. But I figured this was probably going to be my only shot to see them, like, ever, since they don't play the States too much, and in all the time I've known of them, they've never played closer than an hour and a half away from where I've lived (even when I only lived a few hours' drive from the border).

And it was totally worth it - I'm so glad I went! Those guys are so freaking funny!! I only wish I'd had the opportunity to see them sooner.

I bought five of their CDs at the merch booth (out of a total of eleven, eight of which they had available when I got to the table). I would've bought more if they weren't $15 each and admission to the show was not $20. I guess the exchange rate is not working in my favor right now. Maybe I should've asked if they would take Canadian currency - I've got a few Willys I need to spend.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with the brilliance that is the Arrogant Worms, run-do-not-walk: buy their CDs here. My only very slight disappointment with their show was that they did not play "Rippy the Gator" - they did, however, play "I Am Cow," which I was hoping (but not expecting) to hear, and it was fantastic. I was a total nerdy fangirl, and I snagged setlists and I got two of them to sign one of the CDs I bought. Here's what they played, if you're interested:

• We Are the Beaver
• Twins
• Rocks and Trees
• Big Box Store*
• The Boy*
• Log In to You
• I Am Cow
• Cellphone Vigilante*
• I Ran Away
• Hollywood Girl*
• Wolfe Island Ferry
• Celine Dion
• The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
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• Let's Go Bowling
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• Carrot Juice Is Murder

*denotes song title I'm not sure of - set list has only one-or-two-word abbreviations.

Yeah, we called them back for two encores. I'm glad they played "Carrot Juice Is Murder," because I had completely forgotten about that song (hey, I discovered the AW on Napster back in 2000 - up 'til now, all I have had of their music has been mp3's, and I lost most of the ones I had in a hard drive crash in 2001. Cut me some slack, ok? I promise to be a better fan in the future). Hooray for funny Canadian music!

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happy dances!

Jacques Martin won't be "coaching" the Panthers next season!

YAYNESS!

The sign worked!

Maybe they'll find a great coach and the team won't suck next season!! Well, a girl can dream...

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a brief respite from derby posts

There's more to post about events at the < - >, but this is good news, and I have pictures to post with it that haven't been uploaded yet. In the meantime, here are some more things I've been meaning to blather about.

• From Slate, there's this slide-show essay about the show Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today at the MoMA. I particularly appreciated being introduced to Synecdoche by Byron Kim (slide 7, if you look at the essay). Fascinating stuff.


• Also on Slate, to mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War, there's this series of essays from people who, once upon a time, supported going to war. Most of these mea culpas kind of cheesed me off, because they're all like, "Oh, we couldn't have imagined what a debacle it would be, how could we possibly have known?" Uhm, duh? If like, every Iraq expert on earth is saying "This is gonna be a disaster," how could you possibly not have known? A few of them cite post-9/11 "zomg teh terroristses are evarywhere" fervor as having clouded their judgment, but man, we didn't go into Iraq until 2003, and more importantly, it was clear even at the time that Iraq didn't have a damn thing to do with 9/11. The one that pisses me off the most, tho', is William Saletan's lame-ass list of "lessons learned." My jaw dropped when I read lesson #1:

  1. Question authority. That's what the Quakers taught me in college. But you don't have to be a pacifist to see how it applies to Iraq. The U.S. government deceived itself and us about the evidence of WMD. I'm a bit too young, or just too poorly read in history, to have absorbed Vietnam's lessons about trusting your government. So I learned it the hard way. I hope my kids don't have to go through another dumb war to get the same lesson.

  "(A) bit too young, or just too poorly read in history, to have absorbed Vietnam's lessons"??? Dang, Will. I'm pretty sure I'm younger than you are, and I certainly had no problem picking up the whole "question authority" thing from Vietnam, and countless other examples of governments the world over flat-out lying to their citizens. Jeez. I used to have some respect for Saletan, but he pretty much lost it with that piece.


• This was a refreshing blog to read: I'm Black and for Hillary. Get Over it. by Tara Roberts. Slate has started linking to posts on that site, The Root, and I'm glad they have - there's definitely some interesting stuff on there. For instance, take this essay by Alice Walker about her support for Barack, which I found somewhat distressing. The feeling I get from reading her post is that Walker's support for Obama is supremely based on race, even while she's professing that it's not. It's not that I'm a Hillary supporter - I've got just as many problems with her as I do with Barack. But I do feel like this campaign is making it pretty clear that American society is way more sexist than racist. Hillary is getting extra shit piled on her because she's a woman, and Barack is getting handled with kid gloves in some quarters because no one wants to give off even the faintest whiff of racism. It's not that I want people to give Hillary a pass if she screws up, but I would like Obama supporters to take a more critical view of their candidate from time to time. Here, try this bit of frothing at the mouth from Christopher Hitchens as an example.
  
  Getting back to Alice Walker's essay, now, the part that most upset me was not any of the political content, but this passage:

  The year I turned fifty, one of my relatives told me she had started reading my books for children in the library in my home town. I had had no idea – so kept from black people it had been – that such a place existed. To this day knowing my presence was not wanted in the public library when I was a child I am highly uncomfortable in libraries and will rarely, unless I am there to help build, repair, refurbish or raise money to keep them open, enter their doors.

  It really breaks my heart to think that an author of her stature would, to this day, feel uncomfortable in libraries. It makes me sad to think of anyone feeling uncomfortable in a library, but it's particularly heartrending in her case because of her relationship with words.


• Speaking of words, here's some more linguistic nerdiness: NYT article about language use in Suriname. Ostensibly, the official language is Dutch - but the de facto national tongue is a Creole dialect called Sranan Tongo, and there are so many immigrants from so many other places, at least nine other languages are spoken by sizable chunks of the nation's population, too. Craziness! I bet that is such a cool place to visit.


• Man, the Old 97's are getting old. Just look at that picture! Kee-ripes. Anyway, they've got a new album coming out on May 13th, and boy do I hope it's better than their last one. :/ It would be great if they toured it down here, too, since Johnny has still never seen them live.


• Check out this pair of Where's George hits I got recently:
  hit #1
  hit #2
  Spent at the same place on the same day, hit at the same time on the same day, but actually entered 6 days and 4 states apart! I wonder if that confused the person who hit them...


• Speaking of WG, this bill of mine was one of three Wild Georges the hitter found that day! What a lucky duck. I thought I was doing really well, with three Wilds found in the space of a couple weeks (this unmarked one at Langerado, this one from the merch guy at the TMBG show at Revolution, and this one that had been buried on Mom's kitchen table for god only knows how long), but three in one day has me beat. I wish I could find more Wilds. I did get a bunch of bills into the merch till at < - >, so maybe I'll get some good hits soon from that. I've been behind on checking my hits since I had to switch the e-mail account I'm using with WG, but at the same time, the hits definitely seem to be slowing down. I get a lot more dry spells now that last several days than I ever used to. I still don't know if it's a Florida thing, if it's that I'm spending less cash these days, or if hits are down site-wide.
  
  Oh, and I had my 8th Georgiversary on March 24th, and I was too busy that day to even run my Your Bills report. Dang. I am a slacker Georger these days, it seems. Here are my stats from the refresh I did on the closest day to my actual Georgiversary:

  This Report is current as of: Mar-25-08 09:26 AM
  'Your Bills' Summary Statistics
  You have entered 11,085 Bills worth $27,333
  Bills with hits: 2,786 Total hits: 3,744
  Hit rate: 25.13% Slugging Percentage: 33.78% (total hits/total bills)
  George Score: 1,128.00
  Your rank (based on George Score) is #613
  (out of 51,788 current users with a George Score. [98.8 Percentile])
  Your State Rank in Florida is: 84 out of 6,726 [98.8]

  I was down to 84 in FL because I hadn't run my report for more than 5 days - when I do refresh regularly, I'm ranked around 36. And I did just enter my 11,111th bill recently. :D


• When Johnny replaced my computer's hard drive a few months ago, I lost a few programs like GraphicConverter which came on my computer when I bought it, but didn't come on the system disc. Last time I tried, I couldn't get the current update of GraphicConverter to work on my aging machine, anyway, so I started looking for a replacement basic graphics editor. I was all into the idea of trying GIMP, but when I went to install it, I found the native OS X version isn't ready yet, so I'd still need to get X11 - which Johnny had installed on my machine, once upon a time, but which I hadn't yet reinstalled. So I went to reinstall X11, and after following a bunch of links, I couldn't find a version for 10.3.9 (which is the OS I'm still using) - everything is for 10.4 and up now. And I hate the idea of having to use X11, anyway - it's a pain in the ass. I just want something that is quick, and that works serviceably - I don't need a really full-featured program with a gigantic footprint. Looking for some specific advice on GIMP on 10.3.9, I found the Google cache of an old forum thread from Wilber-Loves-Apple which basically convinced me that trying to get GIMP to work on my machine would be way more of a hassle than I'd want to deal with.
  
  Johnny found me this program called Seashore which sounded exactly like what I was looking for. So I downloaded & installed it, and so far it's worked fine. Simple, no-hassle - it just works. Perfect.


• I have been wanting to try playing ice hockey for a while, and I was just pointed to this local women-only league by a message-board acquaintance. I didn't even know there were ice rinks around here aside from Incredible Ice (the Panthers' practice facility, which is all the way up in Coral Springs), but there are like, 3 of them! Apparently there's quite the ice hockey culture in South Florida - well, much more so than you'd think, anyway. The Girls' Night Out league plays at Glacier Ice & Snow in Pompano Beach, but alas, they play on Monday nights, which conflicts with derby practice for me. If we ever have an off-season for derby, tho', I am so there! There's just the small issue of having to drop another few hundred $$ on equipment... but I really do want to play hockey! It just looks like a crazy amount of fun! Too bad the women's league is no-check, tho'. I totally want to take someone into the boards. >:D


• I did some poking around on Etsy recently, and that's always such a bad idea, because I find so much stuff that I want to buy, and I don't have the $$ to spare right now. Here are a few of my new favorite sellers, tho': Lost Mitten (the Perler bead video game coaster sets are the best!), Eighty8Words (see also her interesting blog post about how she makes her pendants), dlk designs (someone needs to buy me this necklace, right now - no joke), Shalottlilly (this chica has the prettiest product pics, because she is in nearly all of them), Atomic Veggie (sweet-ass vintage beads and findings), The Builders Studio (rayguns!!!), Kitchens of 1956 (vintage kitchenware, oooh). And, just because they're so awesome, here are a couple of my old favorites: Tigerlillyshop (love love love the plastic rings - really want the new stamp kits she has up), Red Panda Chainmaille (very pretty stuff - I love the necklace I got from her a while back). So, long story short? If you want to buy me a present, I can point you to a lot of stuff on Etsy I want. Just ask. :D


• I could use some pretty letterpressed stationery, too. Just FYI. There is also this place, if you're in Syracuse, NY, but they didn't hire Bean when she applied for a job there, so, y'know, they're not as cool as they could be. ;)


• Someone needs to buy me this shirt, too (women's XL, please!). To think there was a time in my life when I didn't appreciate Helvetica... I was young, I was foolish, and I know better now.


• Speaking of type, and getting back to the politics thing, there's this post on the blog for Helvetica, the movie about the Obama campaign's use of the Gotham typeface, and how that fits in with their larger campaign message.


• If anybody sees any more of the series 1 Munny zipper pulls, please snag them for me. I really want the TV one and the banana one.


• More from Slate: Are Excessive Lyrics Ruining Pop Music? I don't know about "ruining," but I certainly do think instrumentals are underrated. As far as I'm concerned, the most unassailably cool music on earth is Booker T. and the MG's, and the fact that it doesn't have any words is a significant part of what makes it so cool. There needs to be a serious mainstream instrumental resurgence, dammit. Bonus points to the article for mentioning Ratatat, tho' I'd love them even more if they mentioned Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet or Atomic 7.


• Also: John McCain is a good person, but his campaign ads are effin' terrible (seriously - misspelling his name?? Ouch). A visit to a "widow's village" in China - the first of a series about Chinese immigration. Interesting stuff. And it's great that Iceland has tons of clean, renewable energy, but doesn't most any attempt as translation of that local resource to the broader world population (whether by moving energy-intensive manufacturing to Iceland, or by getting more people to come to Iceland, or what have you) still result in a good chunk of non-renewable energy being used up just to get things to and from Iceland? Maybe so, but I am still dying to visit the place. I mean, come on, Iceland - so freaking cool.


• Thanks to this helpful post on the official Gmail blog, I'm importing all the old e-mail I can into my Gmail accounts. It does take a long time, but it's worth it just for being able to search my thousands of old messages in easy Gmail fashion. Plus, it means I've got an additional backup of all that old mail. Hooray for Gmail!


• Finally, Montana is weird.

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we won! totally!

Things got even better on Sunday! The YALWSRN and the ALWSRN played each other in the first bout, and ALWSRN won, despite losing twice on Saturday. It looked both like the ALWSRN stepped up their game, and the YALWSRN were getting tired. We soon found out how tired the YALWSRN really were!

We won both our next two bouts, no one was seriously injured, there was nothing crazy like both other teams forfeiting, there were no unwarranted accusations of dirty play, and we didn't have to do anything wacky like scrimmage amongst ourselves because we lost both our opponents! I got to play, and I was amazing - we were ALL amazing - every single person on the team! Everything - absolutely everything - was kittens and sparkles and rainbows and unicorns!!! The End. :) :) :)

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more derby goodness

Ok, I'm still so excited about derby! But I still won't mind at all if I don't get to skate today!

Look, there's a story in the paper about the bout! Apparently we got a great pic in the actual print edition of the paper - I can't wait to see it!

And Bean hepped me to this post of Big Geek's, which talks about a derby knitting book that is coming out! Woohoo! I am so all over that.

Ok, gotta go shower and get ready for today's bout. Ugh, I meant to eat more for breakfast/lunch... I got pretty hungry yesterday waiting to skate.

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my derby debut!

*This post has been edited at the request of the League Which Shall Remain Nameless (LWSRN)*

Well, I survived tonight's bouts... because, thank goodness, coach didn't put me in at all! Good thing I didn't stress out about getting to the rink on time or being prepared or anything! Ha! Ha! It didn't matter that I'm getting sick, because, you know, I didn't have to skate, so it's not a big deal! Yay!

I understand where coach is coming from! We needed to win these bouts tonight, because they're our first bouts ever, in front of a big hometown crowd who will, most definitely, make up our loyal fanbase in the future! We won them both by really close margins - the YALWSRN girls are tough, and ALWSRN has definitely picked up their game since we last played them. We didn't have a lot of room to make mistakes. There were only five of us (on an 18-player roster, 16 skaters and 2 alternates) coach didn't put in at all! We had to skate two sweet bouts in a row (yeah, since we're the rockin' home team, it was so bitchin' of us to give one of the visitors the advantage of a rest between bouts!), so the other thirteen girls on the team got a super amount of skating experience!

Now, I understand that coach couldn't put in Sea Cups or K-Dog unless someone else went out for good, because they're alternates (but of course, they knew that, so they weren't expecting to go in). But it was a good thing she didn't put the other three of us in, at least once each, just to give someone else a break! Yeah, we were left out because we're all so completely average on this team, and we wouldn't have made any mistakes that would have cost the team points. It's also great that she let Jack U Up skate a bunch of jams! She's big, but she can maneuver so well, especially for someone so new to derby at this particular time! Plus, Jack hits anyone - just like we need someone her size to do! But more importantly, us not skating was an excellent chance for us to observe skating in a real jam situation! I mean really. Speed Knight was encouraging, saying, "We'll work on your skating, you'll get it." But skating is really only a part of the whole thing - you can be a great skater in general, and still not do that well in a jam if you don't have a lot of close-up derby-watching experience (look at Sin D. - she's a fantastic skater, and she never has a problem getting through the pack sometimes if she doesn't have blockers really clearing a path for her)!

I really think coach is so wonderful! She was just calling players individually, for each jam! It's amazing that she can keep on top of how much every player has played, all in her head! We missed not one single whistle and never had to skate short in a non-penalty situation! Ha! Ha! Ha! That is fucking phenomenal, and that is pretty much all coach's doing! And there were never any times where coach told someone to pivot after she'd already told someone else to do it, so we ended up with two pivots on the track at the whistle, and one or the other would have to jump off. There was never a time where we had a pivot without a helmet cover - that would have been bad news! We have five people who are not bad jammers, but coach put one of them in only once, and another only twice - because she has so much faith in our top 3 jammers! Jess did so great, she celebrated between periods! That is awesome! We don't need to spread the load around more, we did great just how we were!

My whole derby experience has been just kittens and rainbows and unicorns! I'm so glad my opinions and viewpoints are valued in this league, even though my derby experience is as a benchwarmer. No one ever thinks I'm "arguing" with coach. Even if, y'know, I were just to say, "Hey, coach, you haven't put me in yet and this is the last jam of practice." But why would I say anything like that? Ha! Ha! Coach never forgets to put anyone in, so we all get to skate an equal amount of jams every practice! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Wow, I don't even know why I am still up blabbing about this - I need to be well-rested for tomorrow's bouts! The message I am getting out of this is, "You're so valued in this league, you don't have to skate unless we're far enough ahead that victory is assured." So when I do get out there, I can skate with total confidence because I know that victory is assured, just by virtue of me actually being on the rink! I don't need to worry about giving my all, because I already know the situation will be the same whether I do or not! Yay! That takes so much pressure off me! That's super-awesome!!!!!

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crap. crap crap crap crap.

Well, it's official - it wasn't just my imagination. I really am sick. Despite not even kissing my DH for a week, I've managed to catch whatever it is he brought home from that conference he went to in DC.

Ugh. My timing so could not be worse. My throat is killing me, I feel feverish, my sinuses are all weird, and I am so tired and weak... but I've got to be ready to leave for the rink in about half an hour, and I've got to be there until about 2 in the morning or so. And then I've gotta do it all again tomorrow.

Ugh ugh ugh. This is going to be such a long weekend. :(

zomfg, we're in the New Times!

*This post has been edited at the request of the League Which Shall Remain Nameless (LWSRN)*

< - > New Times event listing for the < - >!

Guh, I haven't even posted here yet about how I joined a roller derby league and all. But, really, if you know me, you know all that already. But if you happen to be a stranger who stumbled across this humble blog somehow whilst trolling teh intarnets, here's the whole deal:

Last September, I went to < - > (I forget what they were calling Tuesday nights at that point) at my local rink, and I saw some fliers recruiting skaters for a roller derby league that was starting up here. I had been pretty surprised when I moved here to discover that the area didn't already have a league, despite being such a large metro area. So I was psyched - I could get in on the ground floor, and not have to compete with a bunch of girls who'd been doing derby for years! Pretty sweet.

So I joined up, and we all started going to open skates at local rinks three nights a week. We named ourselves the (LWSRN). We bought good derby skates. We got a coach, < - >. We started private-rink practices in November. We chose derby names (I am < - >), we chose team names (for teams that will form at some point in the future, when we have enough skaters to form more than 1.5 to 2 teams), we had a yard sale fundraiser, we got insurance, we started paying dues... basically, we started the long process of establishing ourselves as a league.

Then I was away for most of December, all of January, and most of February. When I came back, a bunch of girls had quit (I will not speculate as to why), but a different bunch of girls had joined to take their places, and there was still a pretty big core of skaters who'd been in since the start. We had a couple confirmed referees. < - > brought in < - >, her speed skating coach, to be our skating technique coach. I had a lot of catching up to do, having not skated for like, 2.5 months. But I've been working hard (< - >'s technique tips have helped a lot). I've got my coordination back, anyway, even if my endurance is still shit and I am still the slowest skater in the league. That's pretty much going to be a constant - I am never going to be a speed demon. Luckily for me, speed is not the only thing that counts in roller derby.

So, anyway, that brings us up to today. Our league's first bout is < - >. It's called the < - >, and it's going to be a tournament between us, (Another League Which Shall Remain Nameless), and (Yet Another League Which Shall Remain Nameless) (the (Other League Which Shall Remain Nameless) were supposed to play, too, but they had to cancel on us. From what I've heard, they've basically folded into the ALWSRN league, so there was no sense in trying to send a separate squad). We had a private practice scrimmage against the ALWSRN last month (we won, < - >), but this is going to be our first public bout. I didn't skate in the scrimmage, since it was only a couple weeks after I got back from being away for so long, so this is going to be my first bout, period. I am very excited - and very nervous.

Aside from the fact that this is going to be my first bout, here's why it's important to me that I actually skate in the < - >: it's going to be the only bout I'll have the opportunity to skate in for quite a while, since I'll be out of town for two of our next three scheduled matches; and it might be the only interleague bout I get to skate in, ever. Since none of the participating leagues are WFTDA-certified yet (we are all pretty new), we're allowing expanded rosters of up to 20 skaters for this tournament (usually teams are limited to a roster of 14 skaters for any given bout). When we become WFTDA-certified and have to put together a travel team for interleague bouting, there is pretty much no way I am going to qualify for it. So this might be my only chance to be in a bout with girls other than the ones in my league. I've gotta skate in this thing, I've just got to.

The only thing that might hinder this particular aspiration of mine is the fact that, last Sunday at practice, I took a bad fall and twisted my right knee - not too badly, mind you, but badly enough that I know it's not really solid. One more fall exactly like the one I took on Sunday, and I'll probably tear something important, and that would be really, really, very bad. So I got a knee brace for practice on Monday and Tuesday, and it helped in that, when I fell on the same knee (twice!), I did not hurt it in the same way, but I hurt it in a completely new and different way (an impact to the top of my tibia, as opposed to a knee capsule ligament twist kind of thing). Basically, my knee's fucked up. If I were really smart, I would not skate on it for a while. But, for reasons outlined in the previous paragraph, I really, really want to skate this weekend. I figure, if I do manage to mess up my knee even worse during the bout, I know I'm not going to be skating in another bout for months, anyway - I'll have time to let the thing heal. If I injure my knee again in a non-critical way, I'll remove myself from skating for the rest of the day. If it doesn't feel better by the next day, then that's it, I'm out of the bout, even if I don't absolutely have to be. I'll play it as safe as I can with this knee, at least.

So, yeah, that's essentially my roller derby story to date. I posted a gear profile in a (blog elsewhere), if you're at all interested in the equipment I'm currently using. I need to post a follow-up to that, tho', as I've changed a few things since I wrote it. And now that I have made this introductory derby post, you can expect to see a lot more babbling about derby on here, since it's about all I do and about all I think about these days. :) And man, if you are in the < - > metro area this weekend, or if you know anyone who is, come to the < - >, or tell your friends to come!! Admission is free on Saturday and only $5 on Sunday! Tons of bands! Open bar - < - >! Post-match derby girl < - >! (Seriously!) You will be so, so sorry if you miss this!!

.....

April already?

Sheez. March got really busy really quickly. I can't believe I'm so far behind on posting stuff already. So much for my goals for '08.

Anyway, in the interest of clearing some tabs off my browser, here are a bunch of things I've been meaning to post about for a while:

• Anu of A Word A Day went on a tear using quotes from Yahia Lababidi as the x-bonus quotes on the AWAD mailings recently. My interest was piqued - dude's got some great aphorisms (scroll all the way down the page on that last link to see some). So now I want to get his book, Signposts to Elsewhere, but it's currently unavailable on Amazon, and I can't even tell if it's currently in print. I guess I'll have to check the library sometime soon. But if you see one, please buy me a copy. :)


• I still need to listen to this Mike Doughty interview on NPR, from back when his new album came out in February. The album (Golden Delicious) is ok - the songs on it that are good are really good, but there are a few in the middle that feel like filler. Still, filler from MD beats what most people put out.


• R.I.P., Arthur C. Clarke. I always had more of a soft spot for Isaac Asimov, and I don't think I've ever read a Clarke novel, but the man did write some fantastic short stories. Here's an interesting NY Times piece about the influence of spirituality in Clarke's work.


• Rag Trade is for sale. The owner chick has posted a bunch of Myspace bulletins (that link might not work if you're not their friend on Myspace) advertising that fact. She says she wants like, $20,000 for the store, and that she's very motivated to sell because she's moving to an organic farm in Israel (!). If I were at all interested in owning a business, in particular a clothing store, I would 100% jump at this chance. Rag Trade's in a great location, across the street from Amendment XXI and a few blocks down from Churchill's and Sweat. I don't know if it's got a really huge clientele (it's got that weird super-expensive-trendy-upscale boutique thing going right alongside the odd-and-tacky thrift store stuff, which is not a combination just any old store can pull off), but they didn't seem to be hurting for business when I went there. They seem to get a lot of mentions in articles featuring trendy things to do in Miami, too. That kind of business is very personality-driven, tho', and I know I don't have the personality (nor the fashion sense) to be a success at it. But it's a great opportunity for some aspiring young businessperson, and I hope the store continues to do well after it's sold. I'll be really sad if it goes under, even if I don't get down that way to shop there very often.


• So after hearing the episode of Topical Currents (the crappy local talk show) on WLRN a while back about Peruvian food, I am very excited to try it! They had on the chef from Panorama, a swanky hotel restaurant in Coconut Grove. I'm sure the place is really expensive, but I still want to check it out because the food sounds ludicrously tasty. Maybe for a special occasion... (More info here.) Also, in Googling that place, I turned up quite a few other Peruvian places to try. This could become quite the gastronomic adventure!


• Speaking of food, I am also dying to try these: amazing black bean brownies. Don't they sound good?? Mmmm, brownies...


• Johnny hepped me to this post on Critical Miami about how now (or at least, relatively soon) is the time to move to South Florida and buy a house/condo here. It says pretty much exactly what I've been thinking - that this whole mess with the housing market means that people like us (first-time home buyers who are really super eager to buy a house) now have the rare opportunity of *perhaps* being able to find housing in this market that is *relatively* affordable! In that vein, I have been kind of trying to keep an eye on HousingTracker to see roughly what sellers are asking for around here. The whole idea of buying a house, and all the research and paperwork and massive amounts of stuff that go into it, plus the thought of having to move again soon, just makes my head spin. But I know that it might be a now-or-never kind of proposition, so I'm trying to prepare for it, at least a little bit.
  
  We already missed out on one great deal, tho'. The house at the end of our block had been on the market since before I moved here, and had originally listed for $625,000 - reduced to $550,000, and then to $499,000, which was still too much - but it's so pretty and seems (from the outside) to be so well-suited to our needs. I hadn't bothered contacting the real estate agent about it, because even the reduced price was still nearly twice what we can really afford to pay - but then I saw the "for sale" sign was down, so out of curiosity, I e-mailed her. She said there was an offer in on it, but asked if I had a backup offer. I told her no, since the last list price I saw was still way out of our price range. She wrote back and said, oh, that's the old price - the house is in pre-foreclosure and it's going for $274,000. D'OHH! Now every time I drive down the street, I look at that place and think, "Oh man, if only I'd contacted her sooner..." :( It's pretty depressing.


• Here's an amusing NYT article on bad baby names, and whether or not they really have any effect on a kid's personality as they grow up. Here's the bit I found personally relevant:

  “Today it’s all about individuality,” Mr. Sherrod said. “In the past, there was more of a sense of humor, probably because fathers had more say in the names.” He said the waning influence of fathers might explain why there are no longer so many names like Nice Deal, Butcher Baker, Lotta Beers and Good Bye, although some dads still try.

  This explains why, every time we talk about what we'd name a cat if we got one, Johnny suggests naming it Thor (note to my DH: never gonna happen). Thank goodness we're never having kids.


• Another article I found interesting due to my linguistic and biological nerdiness: Are Women Really Better at Language? It will be interesting to see if the results are reproducible with a larger sample population, and if, as the research team plans to examine next, girls' language processing advantages really do decrease with age. If they do, what might the biological factors be in boys' skills eventually reaching parity with girls'? Ok, I like to think about these things, anyway. I know, I'm a weirdo.

Gahh, this post is getting huge, and I am still nowhere near done posting all the pages I have up in tabs. I'm gonna call it quits for now, tho' - but here's one last item before I do. In honor of April Fool's Day (a "holiday" which I generally detest and refuse to acknowledge, btw), here's a video of Norfolk Academy's class of 1986 senior prank: filling The Pit with water on April Fool's Day.

I was in 2nd grade at the time, and I seriously thought those seniors had done the coolest thing ever. They were totally rockstars to me. I wish my grade had been able to come up with something even half as cool for a senior prank (I don't recall us actually doing a senior prank of any sort - how lame). Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Ned Lilly.

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